Last weeks books... This will probably be long :)

Annie Dean emailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in reading her new book The Average Girl's Guide to Getting Laid. I'd read a couple of reviews (Dear Author and Mrs. G) and from those reviews I was expecting an average read.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised when it was more than that. I enjoyed this book. I felt comfortable with Ellie, she's sweet and self conscious and at times full of forced bravado, but not in a bad way. Ash is cool.

Sexy and smart, well paced. The dialogue works (though I hated the "babygirl" endearment--but that's mostly because one of my BILs calls his 3 year old "babygirl). Mostly I liked Ellie and Ash, they were good people. A very sexy story about everyday average people falling in love.

It's not perfect, some of the conflict seemed a little forced and there's little side trips within the story that aren't really necessary, but don't really hurt the story.

This one was better than average for me.

I wish Mary Balogh's Simply Magic was better than average. I was disappointed with this story. I'm not going to write a full review or commentary for this one. All I can say about it is BORING. The hero and heroine are both nice people, but the story is a character driven one and it basically goes absolutely no where. I found myself skimming and skipping whole sections. Mary Balogh is still an auto read for me, simply because I like her writing style and voice, but this book didn't work for me.

Count to Ten has put Karen Rose on my autobuy list. This is a non-stop thriller with a great balance between suspense and romance. I'm very picky when it comes to romantic suspense, I usually find the balance doesn't work for me (to heavy on the romance not enough chills and thrills). Smart, well-developed characters (main and secondary), strong story, good dialogue, the pacing was perfect. I tried to find some of her backlist at the UBS today, but there wasn't a single book in stock.

They Call Me Naughty Lola Personal Ads from the LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS--Edited and with an Introduction by David Rose. Incredibly fun reading. The ads are funny, sarcastic, dry and at times beyond desperate. If you have an opportunity to pick this one up--do, it's worth it. I borrowed it from the library and hate having to give it back. I may have to buy myself a copy.

That's it for last weeks reading.

I've got some good books on the TBR pile, I may come up for air long enough to post about them as I finish them.

Have a good one and happy reading.